With the growth rate of Covid-19 cases rising in the city’s suburbs, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to revise its strategies regarding containment and tracing, to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In the case of redeveloped high-rises under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), the civic body has decided to revert to sealing entire buildings instead of the single floor on which a resident may have tested positive for Covid-19. This, civic officials explained, is because of the high density in SRA buildings as compared to other high-rises.
Starting Sunday, BMC will also conduct door-to-door surveys in high-rises of north Mumbai to detect symptomatic patients, as officials believe that contact tracing has not been foolproof. BMC will also restrict the movement of those residing in containment zones and sealed buildings by sealing buffer zones.
“We had a meeting with the Mumbai Police on Friday, after which we have taken several decisions to control the increasing cases. These include door-to-door surveys in high-rises to find new cases and sealing the entire building instead of only the floor in SRA buildings where residents test positive. We have also decided to extend the lockdown in all market areas and buffer zones if large crowds are observed in these places,” said Vishwas Shankarwar, deputy municipal commissioner of zone 7.
Meanwhile, 1,190 new cases were recorded on Saturday, taking the city’s case count to 65,329. Mumbai reported its highest single-day death count of 136, taking the overall toll to 3,561 deaths. The total number of discharged patients was 32,867, with a recovery rate of 50%. Active cases in the city stood at 28,893.
The fatality rate in the city as of Saturday was 5.45%, and the doubling rate has reached 34 days.
The change in strategy comes as the city prepares to reach the 80,000-case mark by June-end if the current pace of growth continues. BMC’s focus will now be on five wards in the suburbs, covering areas of Dahisar, Borivli, Kandivli, Malad, Mulund, Vikhroli, Kanjurmarg, etc. The daily growth rate in the above-mentioned areas is between 3-4.5% against the average daily growth rate of 2.05% in the city. H East ward, which covers Bandra (East) and Santacruz, has the lowest growth rate in the city (1%), followed by E ward (Byculla, Mazagaon, Mumbai Central) and FN ward (Wadala, Dadar, Matunga, and Sion), both having a growth rate of 1.1%.
In both R North ward (Dahisar and parts of Borivli) and PN ward covering Malad, BMC has widened the scope of containment areas by clubbing the buffer zone in the containment zone.
“We have decreased the number of containment zones but clubbed the buffer zones in them. The concentration is majorly in slums when it comes to Dahisar (East), high-rises in Dahisar (West), and parts of Borivli. We are restricting the movement of those in containment zones to ensure the cases come down. Currently, there are many hidden cases and we are expecting to bring the number under control in the coming days due to better detection of these hidden cases,” said Sandhya Nandekar, assistant municipal commissioner, R North ward.
In R Central ward covering Borivli, BMC claims 70% of the cases are in high-rises, owing to which their focus is to ensure minimal movement of those residing in sealed buildings.
Around 60% of Malad, which has major slum areas, has been declared as a containment zone and is under lockdown, where only essential shops can remain open.
Bhagyashree Kapse, assistant municipal commissioner of R Central ward, said, “Police had said that we should have a complete lockdown owing to rise in cases but that is not feasible. In my ward, 70% of the cases are in high-rises, and only 30% are from slums that are declared as containment zones. We are releasing those areas where no cases were reported for the last 20 days.”
Meanwhile, Dharavi, one of the critical hotspots in Mumbai, reported its lowest number of cases since the first week of April. On Saturday, only seven cases were recorded, taking the total case count of the area to 2,158 with 80 deaths so far.
A makeshift 1,000-bed Covid-19 hospital has been set up in the premises of engineering company Richardson and Cruddas in Byculla, according to BMC.
In a statement on Saturday, the civic body informed that of the 1,000 beds, 300 are ICU beds with oxygen supply and other facilities. The hospital will be ready to use by the end of June.
